ENGINEER SAYS OFFICIALS KNEW OF SPRINTER PROBLEM

Agency disputes assertions of employee, who resigned March 1

North County Transit District managers knew about accelerated brake wear on the now-idled Sprinter trains for more than a year but never treated it as an emergency, said the engineer who oversaw rail maintenance until his resignation on March 1. The engineer also said officials overreacted by shutting down the light-rail system last week and that a less-disruptive fix was being planned.

The agency disputed those assertions and repeated its position that the shutdown is a necessary precaution.

The Sprinter, which carries thousands of people each day between Oceanside and Escondido, has been sidelined since March 9. Transit district officials said it could be out of service for up to four months while they search for and install replacement brake parts.

Richard Berk, the agency’s Rail Maintenance Officer for seven years, said he told each of his three supervisors about the brake issue during the last 18 months and worked to find solutions.

“I used the words, ‘We have an accelerated brake rotor wear problem,’ ” Berk said in a phone interview this week.

“I never treated this or reported it as a crisis because I don’t believe it is,” Berk added in an email. “We should be undertaking rigorous hazard analysis and risk assessment that would allow continued safe operation until the corrective action plan we have been working on can be accomplished.”

A spokeswoman for the transit district and its chief of safety said Berk never told higher-ups about the problem, adding that Berk recently admitted to the agency that he kept the brake issue to himself.

Deborah Castillo, the spokeswoman, provided a copy of email correspondence from late February between Berk and his most recent supervisor. In those emails, Berk said he “was aware some (brake) discs were at or near condemning.”

The emails do not clarify whether Berk had previously told that supervisor, or his earlier bosses, about the brake wear.

Berk said he did not inform his superiors in writing about the problem — something he said he now regrets. He decided to speak with U-T San Diego, he said, to “set the record straight.”

Berk said he knew the rotor wear would reach a critical point, though he didn’t know when that would happen. He also said he worked closely with rail maintenance contractor Bombardier to find replacement parts as far back as three years ago. And he said he urged district officials to take extra Sprinter cars off the tracks during periods of low ridership to avoid added wear.

“That was a major effort,” Berk said. “I would harp on that.”

Castillo said the agency found no mention of the brake problem after examining five years of Bombardier’s inspection reports. She provided a copy of Bombardier’s Jan. 31 report, which does not mention the brake issue.

“We have no record of when (Berk) ever asked for the expediting of wheels or rotors,” said Tom Tulley, the district’s safety chief.

One point Berk and current agency officials agree on is that the brake wear has never posed a danger to the public. They said Sprinter trains have multiple braking systems and that the accelerated wear was limited to a few sets of brake rotors.

Castillo said the agency voluntarily shut down the trains due to a liability concern.

“We could get sued if there was an accident, even if it wasn’t our fault,” she said.

The closure came a day after the California Public Utilities Commission requested the district to “immediately” replace all brake rotors in question. The commission said those rotors no longer met manufacturer’s standards.

Who knew what about the Sprinter brakes — and when — remains a key issue as transit officials continue their investigation into the matter, Castillo said.

“Had someone above (Berk) known about this, it would have been corrected immediately,” she added.

Berk said even if the supervisors he informed had acted right away, it still would have been a slow resolution process.

He explained that the European manufacturers he contacted three years ago initially told him it would take 44 weeks to make and send replacement parts. Berk said those parts makers continued to make unrealistic offers and were occasionally unresponsive in the next three years. He said that in recent months, Bombardier was closing in on a different supplier that promised to have parts for the transit district by this summer.

On March 10, Berk circulated a letter to his industry colleagues explaining his view on the Sprinter’s brake problems.

In that letter, Berk wrote that the state utilities commission’s “extraordinarily high” brake-rate requirements caused the rapid brake wear. The commission and transit district denied that claim this week.

Also in his letter, Berk accused the district’s chief executive of hostility. He wrote: “I decided to resign, abruptly, from NCTD after the CPUC triggered ‘crisis’ situation developed. The decision was prompted entirely by our CEO’s unconstrained rage and focus on pinning blame rather than learning about the problem and ways to resolve it.”

This week, the commission said it stands by its decision to request the immediate replacement of Sprinter brake rotors.